Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1887-01-06
GAMBLING DENs OF MEXICO.
Where They are and How They are
Carried on. A Night in
Gambling House and
What we Saw.
FOR THE GRAPHIC

Il
dark and the allurements used b
him are as numerous as th
emotions of the mind and as vari
ed as the desires of the human
heart. If the good and pure il
heart desire to look upon rich lant
scape paintings, many of whicl
may recall the scenes of othe
days on the farm with the custom,
of his own country, he will fine
them here. fbe desires to heal
the familiar airs of Scott's "Wo
ha," THE Bells:.of Shanandon," OF
Hail Columbia" all rendered by
able musicians on wind anc
stringed instruments, or listen te
the lullaby songs his mother sang
he will hear them here. If he de.
! sires to look upon and breathe the
perfume of the most beautiful
flowers of the tropics he can look
upon and inhale their sweets here
to his hearts content. 1.-The would
like to enter an ideal grotto as
near as rustic art can make it,
where he will find gold fish and
frogs in sparkling fountains, rus
tic walls and ceilings draped in
long gray moss, from among
which the dew drops and violets
lpeep out in all their natural beau
Ity, and where breezes always blow,
even when the wind without is
hill; where the birds sing at night
and roses bloom in winter, he may
enter and find them all here Or
it he is a stranger far ftom the
land of his own language and un-
able to speak to those around him,
he will find to his great joy that
his own mother tongue is spoken
here, and the words of which will
now seem sweeter than all the
music. In short such are a few
allurements that appeal to the
nobler sentiments of the soul and
by them many who are pure at
heart are first drawn from the rule
OF right, and begin their down.
ward course in these gilded halls
of night. All this is but the bright
mantle which hides an enemy
worse than the seven-headdehydra
and to be influenced there BY, is to
follow bright shadows and be lead
into dark despair, or to be lured
on by bright show without re-
gard to results which follow after
taking.
The second step in which we
behold men and women of every
class seated around the card and
roulette tables. They have seri-
Gus cast of countenance and rarely
speak while the game goes on and
the money flows into the Golfers of
the keeper of the place. At every
turn of the wheel or deal from the
deck one half are made to rejoice
at their gains though received at
the cost of another's ruin. All the
while the novice by turns listens to
the music, looks at the fine paint
ings and watches the game. He
observes that it is an orderly
place, there are no pistols by the
money piles and no danger that he
can see of being robbed, SO he
concludes that a gambling place is
not SO bad. After all has been made
SO pleasant for him, he feels duty
bound to take hand in some
game; SO he is seated at the table
conscious he is taking a wrong
step. Good and evil emotions are
at war for the mastery of the boy,
but all is banished by the first turn
of the wheel or deal from the deck
which turns to his gain and the
stakes are pushed over to his side
OF the table. Now excited with
Joy and buoyed up by hope, he
looses discretion, forgets the warm
lngs OF conscience, bis mothers
parting adyice, aud never thinks
of what the result will be if he
looses when he risks his months,
years or perhaps his life's savings.
He only thinks of fortune to be
made with out work and how he
may break the Monte Bank. The
end will justify any means as all
their gains are ill-gotten. But the
deluded youth never thinks that it |
is far easier to break his own bank
than theirs and that his gains are
only the bait that is thrown out to
catch the salmon. But it is make
or break with him and he puts all
down and breaks. He beholds his
all swept to the other side of the
table and hears it rattle in to the
big drawer where .supplications,
cries, threats, curses or the laws
of the land can never reach or
bring it back. Half crazed he
rises from the table, lashed by re-
morse, with self put questions
asking: Why was he deluded?
Why he had not quit when he
gained? Why did he not obey the
of conscience, the advice
Of friends and the promise to his
mother? And the sad thought now
comes, what will he do now?
Financial credit ruined; moral
strength broken; prospects blight
I'd, his proud spirit humbled and